New data on quarantine pests and pests of the EPPO Alert List
By searching through the literature, the EPPO Secretariat has extracted the following new data concerning quarantine pests and pests included (or formerly included) on the EPPO Alert List, and indicated in bold the situation of the pest concerned using the terms of ISPM 8.
- New records
Corythucha arcuata (Hemiptera: Tingidae – formerly EPPO Alert List) occurs in Poland. It was first observed in August 2021 on the Bukowe Berdo mountain (Southern Poland) in a mixed forest (Gierlasiński and Orzechowski, 2023).
Phytophthora alni subsp. alni (formerly EPPO Alert List, EAEU A1 List) is reported from Belarus, on Alnus glutinosa and A. incana (Zviagintsev et al., 2023).
Potato spindle tuber viroid (Pospiviroid, PSTVd – EPPO A2 List) is first reported from Vietnam. It was detected in 2022 during an export inspection in seeds of Capsicum annuum produced in Vietnam (Tanaka et al., 2024).
Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera: Thaumastocoridae – formerly EPPO Alert List) is reported for the first time from Cyprus. The first specimen was found in December 2020 in Germasogeia (near Limassol city) under the bark of a Eucalyptus sp. tree. More specimens were then found in the Limassol district in urban areas (Demetriou et al., 2023).
- Detailed records
In China, Austropuccinia psidii (formerly EPPO Alert List), the causal agent of myrtle rust was first reported from Hainan province on Syzygium jambos. In 2023, A. psidii was also found in Guangdong province, causing a serious shoot and leaf rust disease on Rhodomyrtus tomentosa trees in two parks and one nursery in Zhanjiang (Liu et al., 2024).
Metamasius hemipterus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, EPPO A1 List) is first recorded from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. It was found in the soil of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) fields (Ávila et al., 2023).
In Egypt, tomato brown rugose fruit virus (Tobamovirus, ToBRFV – EPPO A2 List) was first reported in 2019 from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) but this report was considered invalid by the NPPO of Egypt (EPPO RS 2020/125). A recent article mentions the detection of ToBRFV on Capsicum spp. from samples collected in 2016-2017 (Khalifa et al., 2024).
In Uzbekistan, tomato brown rugose fruit virus (Tobamovirus, ToBRFV – EPPO A2 List) was first observed greenhouses producing tomato fruit (Solanum lycopersicum) in October 2020 in the region of Ferghana and in the region of Davlatobod (EPPO RS 2021/222). Bakhtiyorova et al. (2024) report that it was also found in Zangiota, Qibray and Chirchiq districts in the region of Tashkent in spring 2021.
In Southern USA, Xylella fastidiosa (EPPO A2 List) causes leaf scorch in rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium virgatum) cultivars. So far, only X. fastidiosa subsp. multiplex had been reported associated with this species in Louisiana. Cieniewicz et al. (2024) showed that X. fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa was causing leaf scorch of V. virgatum in South Carolina.
- Host plants
In China, Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. perforans (EPPO A2 List) was identified as the causative agent of bacterial leaf spot on water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) in Fujian province (Fan et al., 2023).
- New pests and taxonomy
For many years, the pathogen causing bacterial canker of tomato has been called Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (EPPO A2 List). In the 2010s, the division of Clavibacter michiganensis into subspecies started to be reviewed, and subspecies were progressively moved to species level, such as C. sepedonicus, C. capsici and C. nebraskensis. More recently, based on genomic and phylogenetic analysis, C. michiganensis subsp. phaseoli, C. michiganensis subsp. californiensis, and C. michiganensis subsp. chilensis were also elevated to species rank, leaving only one subspecies, C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Arizala et al., 2022; Osdaghi et al., 2020). As a consequence, this remaining subspecies should now be called Clavibacter michiganensis.
When re-examining specimens belonging to three Japanese species of conifer-infesting gall midges (namely Aschistonyx eppoi on Juniperus chinensis var. globosa, Dasineura nipponica on Larix kaempferi, Janetiella kimurai on Pinus parviflora - Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), it was concluded that Aschistonyx eppoi (EU Annexes) should be transferred to a new genus and called Byakushincecis eppoi. During these studies, B. eppoi was also found infesting bonsai plants of Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii at a nursery in Saitama prefecture (Honshu). These plants were being produced for export to the EU (Yukawa et al., 2024).
Sources
Arizala D, Dobhal S, Alvarez AM, Arif M (2022) Elevation of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. californiensis to species level as Clavibacter californiensis sp. nov., merging and re-classification of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. chilensis and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. phaseoli as Clavibacter phaseoli sp. nov. based on complete genome in silico analyses. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 72(9). https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.005427
Ávila CJ, Caparróz G, Santos V, Silva IF (2023) Soil insects associated with sugarcane crop in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Ciência Rural 53, e20220333. https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20220333
Bakhtiyorova M, Norov T, Khodjaeva S, Botirova N, Cillo F, Abou Kubaa R (2024) First report of tomato brown rugose fruit virus on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in Uzbekistan. Journal of Plant Pathology (early view). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42161-024-01609-z
Cieniewicz E, Schnabel E, Powell G, Snipes Z, Schnabel G (2024) Detection and characterization of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa in rabbiteye blueberry in South Carolina. Plant Disease (early view). https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-23-2392-SC
Demetriou J, Makris C, Davranoglou L-R (2023) First record of Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera, Thaumastocoridae) in Cyprus. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle 'Grigore Antipa' 66(1), 135-141. https://doi.org/10.3897/travaux.66.e90065
Fan X, Zheng H, Luo H, Zhuo T, Chen Y (2023) Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. perforans is the causative agent of bacterial leaf spot on Ipomoea aquatica from Fujian Province in China. Australasian Plant Pathology 52, 327–337.
Gierlasiński G, Orzechowski R (2023) [Corythucha arcuata (Say, 1832) (Hemiptera, Heteroptera: Tingidae) in Poland]. Acta Entomologica Silesiana 31(001), 1–6. https://zenodo.org/records/7707597
Khalifa MAA, El-Shazly AM, El-Kady MA, Al Naggar AM (2024) Survey of viruses infecting Solanaceous plants and characterization of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) infecting pepper in Egypt. Fayoum Journal of Agricultural Research and Development 38(1), 56-76.
Liu F, Liu Q, Li G (2024) Myrtle rust, a serious threat to horticultural plant Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Myrtaceae) in southern China. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 130, 102243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmpp.2024.102243
Osdaghi E, Rahimi T, Taghavi SM, Ansari M, Zarei S, Portier P, Briand M & Jacques MA (2020) Comparative genomics and phylogenetic analyses suggest several novel species within the genus Clavibacter, including nonpathogenic tomato-associated strains. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 86, e02873-19.
Tanaka S, Murase R, Inoue Y, Masumoto M, Matsuura T, Yanagisawa H (2024) First report of potato spindle tuber viroid isolated from pepper seeds produced in Vietnam. Journal of General Plant Pathology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10327-024-01170-8
Yukawa J, Tokuda M, Watanabe M, Inoue E, Uechi N, Yano F (2024) Redescriptions of three Japanese conifer‑infesting gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) described by M. Inouye, with description of a new genus for Aschistonyx eppoi. Applied Entomology and Zoology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-023-00855-4
Zviagintsev V, Prokhоrоva A, Surina T, Belomesyeva D (2023) Global risks of biological invasions of phytopathogenic organisms and improvement of the quarantine monitoring system using computer modeling. Reliability: Theory & Applications 18(75), 569-581.